Grain drills are employed for field planting of a wide variety of seed crops, such as barley, lentils, oats, rice, rye, and the like. In general, a grain drill comprises a wheel mounted seed hopper of substantial capacity adapted to be connected to and drawn by a tractor or the like. A wheel mounted air drill is connected to the rear of the hopper and comprises a frame with a number of foldable sections carrying a multiplicity of colters and hose manifolds for delivering the seeds to each colter. The bottom of the seed hopper is provided with a number of metering gates related to the number of hose manifolds, and feeder tubes connect the metering gates to the hose manifolds. A blower is carried by the hopper forwardly of the metering gates and the blower output includes a splitter to which is connectable an air hose for each of the metering gates. The blower provides a pneumatic pressure for feeding the seeds and/or fertilizer which may also be carried in the hopper to the air drill.
Typically, the farmer will begin the planting process by filling the hopper with a particular seed and/or fertilizer. Depending on the size of the field being planted with the particular seed, the farmer will either need to refill the emptied hopper or empty from the hopper the store of seeds still remaining therein. In any case, it is unlikely that the hopper supply of seeds and/or fertilizer will ever match precisely the planting requirements.
Seed hoppers of the type under consideration are relatively large, vehicle-like containers. For example, a production model manufactured by the assignee of the present invention has a capacity on the order of 150 bushels or 5 1/4 cubic meters of grain and/or fertilizer. Frequently, the hopper will be filled manually from a storage area by means of a shovel or other similar instrument. In order to remove and conserve valuable grain, the farmer will most often physically enter the hopper and use a shovel or the like to transfer the remainder to a storage or holding container. Alternatively, large or corporate farms might employ some expensive auxiliary equipment, such as conveyors or vacuum devices, for filling or emptying the hopper. Such equipment is, of course, generally not available to the average farmer.
There thus exists a need for a simple and convenient device for emptying and filling a grain drill hopper. The device should be efficiently operable by the tractor operator and add little to the cost of the grain drill equipment. Ideally, the device should operate basically with already existing grain drill structure and require little, if any, modification thereof.